When I reach the crown of command I do a nasty thing. I throw away items that are not useful any more in the space, like talismans, extra swords, water bottle, solomon's crown (if no character attacks with craft), etc. I do this to avoid other characters to have these things (acquisition). Also, I suppose that if a character reaches the crown while I'm there, he must fight with me, and cannot take the stuff in the place. If I lose, the winner character cannot move, so he/she cannot land in the space and take the items that I just put there. So if I'm pretty sure that I'm going to lose the fight, I drop everything before this happens, and the winner cannot take any item that I own before. Beyond morality, is this strategy valid? Can the player in the crown of command take the items in the space even when he/she is not encountering that space?

A lone character at the CoC encounters the space, else he wouldn't be casting the Command Spell. But as long as another char is alive at the CoC, then the other char can't pick up any items on the space.

That answer cannot be deduced from the rules or the FAQ. As far as I understand, when a player is in that space he/she casts the command spell and cannot move, but it doesn't says that the player "encounter" the place at the crown of command, and as a result of that encounter the command spell is casted.

I would say it can be deduced and that deduction is the only way (apart from asking for an official ruling) to come across it.

"Once two
(or more) characters are on the Crown, those characters’ turns
consist only of encountering one of the other characters." (p. 20)

emphasis added

So if 2+ characters are at the CoC, they do encounter each other.

"A character does not draw Adventure Cards in the Inner
Region. Instead, the encounter is detailed in the instructions
for the space." (p. 19)

On the flipside would be the argument that you never encounter the space you start your turn in (unless you go somewhere else first and get bounced back).

Dam said:

I agree but..

Dam said:

You do not draw cards in the Inner Region, but you can still encounter them if they are present. For istance you can encounter the Hermit if he appears in the Plain of Peril (well, I mean the first space in the Inner Region, I don't know the English name so I'm guessing), as well as items dropped by dead characters. I think that you can also pick up itemsfollowers on the Crown of the Comand if you are the only character on that space, since you are not forced to "only encounter" anyone.

I think that throwing away all your excess stuff on the CoC is perfetcly legitimate. Of course no one gets to take them until he's alone on the CoC.

One interpretation, and the one that we use in our games, is that in the inner region (including the Crown) is that you dont encounter the square per se, instead you follow incstructions, therefore in our games anything that gets discarded is gone, off to the discard piles.